There’s already a lot of discussion about Marianne de Pierres' genre-blending new series - kicking off with this action-packed instalment (out in April).

Marianne has built a career writing (and successfully combining) a range of genres, and Peacemaker brings quite a few of them together. But genre labels can be so distracting, so the best way I'd describe Peacemaker is as an intricate and highly original page-turner with elements of science fiction, western adventure, supernatural mystery and crime thriller.

Early chatter focused on the sci-fi/western hybrid, and thoughts (mine certainly) went to Joss Whedon’s Firefly franchise. Peacemaker is a very different take on the way those two genres can work together, although it’s equally populated with interesting characters who aren’t all who they appear to be, and is perhaps a more layered approach to speculating about the future.

Marianne’s view of the not-too-distant future is thought-provoking and not so far removed from our own world to make it alien. Her society - a giant east-coast metropolis on the fringes of a protected Outback desert (the world’s last natural landscape) - is segmented into cultural and socio-demographic enclaves. There is no one face of the future, there are many in this sprawling city.

Which is what makes Virgin’s role as a horse-riding, gun-toting park ranger so unique. In Peacemaker, she’s quickly caught up in rare and violent criminal activity in the desert. It spills over into her personal life back in the city, bringing with it an enigmatic Native American US Marshall and a mythical supernatural creature from Virgin’s childhood.

In trying to figure out what’s going on - and clear her name - Virgin must rely on her friends and contacts: journos, strippers, chefs, mercenaries and underworld figures. She also grapples with questions about her father’s death and his connection to a rising and shadowy new threat.

There's a subtle Australia flavour in Peacemaker, although there are plenty of other cultural influences at work here (it's tragically plausible that an Australian outback tourist attraction, in a world bereft of natural landscapes, would feature North American ‘western’ touches).

There are a lot of threads at play (which start to come together by the of this instalment), and plenty of colourful characters who will no doubt feature more in the next book.

Peacemaker is a thoroughly original read and I'm looking forward to seeing where Marianne takes us in the next book.

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